Same-day pharmacy delivery from Amazon? It could happen
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Questions swirl around Amazon’s plans to move into the pharmacy sphere: How could it affect current market dynamics and address challenges, like timely drug delivery and medication adherence? The logistics giant, which makes a large chunk of its earnings on storing data, is positioned to do big things to improve coordination of products and services. That, of course, could also influence buyers to spend more with them. Amazon hasn’t announced whether it will direct initial efforts towards health care providers or sell directly to consumers—a market with huge profit potential, but rife with regulatory complexity. (
MedCity News)
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Poll: Continue funding for Medicaid expansion states
Americans say it’s important to continue funding for states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. Overall, more than 70 percent of those responding said they prefer keeping Medicaid largely as it is now, but among Republicans, only 47 percent
say to keep the status quo, while 48 percent said they support changing Medicaid so states have more flexibility in determining who and what services are covered. (
Kaiser Family Foundation
;
survey results)
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Innovation & Transformation
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For centuries, philosophers have traced the connection between music and medicine. Researchers at Johns Hopkins
formalized it with the Center for Music and Medicine. Co-founded and co-directed by Alex Pantelyat, a Johns Hopkins University neurologist, the goal is to "integrate
music and rhythm into medical care and improve
the health of musicians worldwide.” Interdisciplinary work began with a study of how choral singing can affect symptoms of Parkinson’s, measuring its effects on mood, memory, sound pressure, voice jitter and more. Results are not yet published, but the choral group found the experience so uplifting that it continues to meet. (
The Baltimore Sun
)
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Home genetic testing: Who owns the data?
AncestryDNA’s invitation to consumers to identify their “ethnic mix” via a home DNA test included eyebrow-raising fine print: consumer permission for the company to own “a perpetual, royalty-free, world-wide, transferable license to use your DNA.” Legal experts theorize that information from you—or any relatives that give a sample—could make its way into the hands of insurers or other parties. AncestryDNA leadership updated its terms to clarify customers still own their genetic information, and say the company doesn’t intend to sell the data. But with permission, they will share de-identified information to for-profit research companies. (
Slate
;
Snopes)
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Arkansas: OK to submit backup plan for the backup plan
Uncertainty around the validity of cost-sharing reduction payments in ACA marketplace plans? No problem, says Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr. His department will allow insurance carriers to submit multiple sets of rates for 2018. Only one set will be reviewed for approval, while the others are provided “for informational purposes.” That lets carriers change their proposed rates if federal payments stop. "We wanted to be proactive this far out, in order to let folks know that we understand there's this question out here," said insurance department spokesman Ryan James. (
ArkansasOnline.com)
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Copy-and-paste makes progress notes easy—and less accurate
Less than 20 percent of the text in a typical EHR physician progress note is original; 46 percent is copied and pasted and 36 percent is imported from other sources, according to a study published in
JAMA Internal Medicine. Research from the National Institute of Standards and Technology says copy-and-paste functionality has “introduced overwhelming and unintended safety-related issues,” such as outdated or inaccurate information. One recommended fix is to make it easy to recognize information that was copied and pasted, so clinicians can evaluate where it came from when reviewing the record. (
Healthcare Informatics
;
JAMA Internal Medicine)
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Minneapolis takes the lead
According to annual rankings by American College of Sports Medicine and Anthem Foundation, Minneapolis ranks as the nation’s most fit city, while Washington, D.C. dropped a notch to number two. Cities ranking near the top have more strengths and resources that support healthy living and fewer challenges that hinder it. The opposite is true for cities near the bottom of the index. Recommendations for D.C. include “creating more parkland, playgrounds and baseball diamonds.” (
The Hill; ACSM rankings)
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Medicare recipients with peripheral artery disease, a narrowing of the leg arteries, now qualify for supervised exercise therapy. Cardiologists requested the change, based on research that exercise alleviates pain and discomfort from the disease. Research is mixed about the efficacy of supervised exercise, although it’s clear that without exercise of some type, the condition could worsen to the point patients lose the ability to function independently. (Modern Healthcare; CMS decision memo)
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Who’s minding the security of medical devices?
Only five percent of medical device users say they test them for security risk at least once a year, according to new research following reports the WannaCry ransomware attack affected medical devices within hospitals. Only 15 percent of health care providers say they're taking steps to secure them. Budgets will only increase to cover better security if there's a hack or attack with life-threatening consequences, they say. The conflict resides in the need for devices in a hospital to communicate between systems versus the use of protective firewalls. (
HealthcareITNews)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
“You’re not going to be able to mitigate risks unless you know what assets you have. I’m just surprised by how many hospitals are having a tough time understanding what are [the devices] on our networks, and what are the risks to our essential clinical performance.”—Kevin Fu, associate professor of computer science and engineering, University of Michigan, from
The Baltimore Sun
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Copyright 2009-2017,
H2R Minutes
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